Employers need to stand up and take responsibility for eliminating sexual harassment
Rebecca Hilsenrath, Chief Executive
| Equality and Human Rights Commission
To eliminate sexual harassment in every British workplace, there must be a focus on changing culture, greater transparency, and strengthening legal protection, says the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Sexual harassment stories have not been far from the news in recent months, with new revelations disclosed on an almost daily basis. Many come from high profile celebrities and while they reveal disgraceful behaviour, it is the stories we were hearing from people going about their everyday working lives that prompted us to look deeper and focus our attention on what happens closer to home.
What we found has at times been shocking and led to the conclusion that we must turn the tables and find ways to create a better work environment for all employees.
And so we have produced recommendation on how this can be done in our new report: ‘Turning Tables: ending sexual harassment at work’
We reached out to victims of sexual harassment and asked for their experiences and how they were treated. We also wrote to leading employers, including the Chairs of the FTSE 100 and magic circle law firms, reminding them of their legal responsibility for the safety and dignity of their employees and asking for evidence of their policy and practice.
One women responded to us:
“[I] was 17 [and] had to lock myself in toilet because of rape jokes turning to threats [and] older waiters joking over who was going to take my virginity when they found out I was a church goer. This was [the] last straw after many other incidents. [My] boss told me that’s just how men talk and to go home.”
Another simply said:
“I lost my job, my reputation and my health.”
From employers, the responses show a lack of consistent, effective action being taken and people’s careers and mental and physical health have been damaged as a result.
Corrosive cultures have silenced individuals and sexual harassment has been normalised. We underestimate the extent and we are complacent as to impact.
It is evident we need to shift from the current culture of people risking their jobs and health in order to report harassment, to placing the onus on employers to prevent and resolve it.
Focusing on changing culture, greater transparency, and strengthening legal protection, we are calling on Government to introduce legislation preventing employers from using non-disclosure agreements to sweep sexual harassment under the carpet and protect their reputation. Instead, they should only be used at a victim’s request.
We also suggest the time limit to bring a claim of sexual harassment to tribunal to be extended to six months, reflecting the time taken by many individuals to raise complaints.
A new positive legal duty on employers to take effective steps to prevent harassment or victimisation in the workplace should be introduced that we will then enforce. And this should be supported by a statutory code of practice that sets out the steps employers need to take to comply with this duty, with a possible 25% uplift in compensation when an employer breaches the code.
But this is not a problem that more government regulation will solve on its own. It’s down to employers to show what they are doing and how seriously they take protecting their team.
That’s why we want all employers to be transparent and publish a separate sexual harassment policy easily found on their websites so their current and potential employees are clear about how this important issue is being addressed.
It cannot be right that millions of people go to work fearing what might have happened by the time they come home. Employers need to stand up and take responsibility for eliminating sexual harassment from every British workplace.
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